Cybersecurity Policy Report, House Hearing Focuses on Tech Security, Robocall Bills, (Jul 23, 2026)

By Jeff Williams

Several pieces of pending legislation could help address the ongoing fight against illegal robocalls and escalating threats to the security of U.S. telecommunications networks, lawmakers and witnesses said yesterday during a hearing held by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on communications and technology.

The hearing included discussion of the GUARD Act (HR 9129), the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act (HR 6152), the QUIET Act (HR 1027), the AI for Secure Networks Act (HR 7294), the PLAN for Broadband Act (HR 2805), and the Data BRIDGE Act (HR 4950).

In opening remarks that touched on each of the bills, subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson (R., N.C.) said that while Congress and the FCC had taken various actions to try to crack down on and deter illegal robocalls, “more still needs to be done.”

Pointing to the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act as part of the solution, Mr. Hudson said “bad actors continue to develop new ways to enter our networks. And many of these culprits are based abroad, making them hard to track down.”

In addition, Mr. Hudson said that “fraudsters do not follow the law, and we must be mindful of imposing new requirements that will only burden legitimate callers while doing nothing to reduce the illegal calls that harm us.”

Rep. Brett Guthrie (R., Fla.), chairman of the full committee, was among those who spoke about the need to confront national security threats from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and expressed support for the GUARD Act, which would add “adversary-produced” humanoid and quadruped robots the FCC deems to be security risks to the “covered list” of products prohibited from entering the U.S. (CPR, June 3).

Rep. Frank Pallone (D., N.J.), ranking member of the full committee, highlighted the need to deal with ongoing and evolving national security threats, including those that leverage artificial intelligence (AI).

In addition, he said, there is “plenty of work to be done to address the incessant robocalls and phone scams that still plague consumers on a daily basis, despite all our work on this issue in the past.”

Kevin Rupy, a partner at Wiley Rein LLP, called for increased law enforcement actions to go after originators of illegal robocalls. While “industry is doing everything they can to deploy” tools to stop illegal robocalls, “it’s an ongoing process and I do believe that a criminal enforcement element is needed,” Mr. Rupy said.

Mr. Rupy cited the “highly dynamic” nature of the fight against illegal robocalls, arguing that industry players needed “flexible frameworks to adapt to evolving threats and respond in real-time.”

Mr. Rupy encouraged Congress to focus on legislation aimed “directly at fraudsters and criminal enterprises, rather than retrofitting a compliance statute that bad actors will simply ignore.”

Michael Robbins, president and chief executive officer of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), offered “strong support” for the GUARD Act to counteract PRC investments and tactics that “injected considerable national security risks” into the U.S.

Mr. Robbins also called for a national robotics strategy and suggested that there should be a “rip-and-replace” program to defray the cost of replacing Chinese-made drones used in the U.S.

Lindsay Gorman, former senior policy adviser–technology strategy to the White House under President Biden, said national security risks from AI had “grown immeasurably” and that the “U.S. policy response has not kept pace.”

AI is “massively expanding the cyberattack surface and risks, tipping the offense-defense balance in favor of the attacker,” she said.

Among other things, Ms. Gorman said the U.S. and its allies could “benefit from leading AI open source infrastructure” and that the U.S. “must lead a coalition of democratic allies to deploy secure 6G as foundational to secure local AI.”

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